On Media

TV nets give less coverage to Sikh shooting

By DYLAN BYERS

08/07/2012 01:43 PM EDT

Two days after six people were killed at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, the story has become just one item among many in the national news cycle — a stark contrast to the flood of media coverage in the days following the theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., that killed 12.

With the exception of CNN, which continues to broadcast much of its prime-time programming live from Wisconsin, the major networks have not sent their anchors to Wisconsin and have given significantly less coverage to the shooting. Moreover, the Sikh temple shooting has not launched the national mourning that followed the shooting in Aurora.

To be sure, there are significant differences between the two events, beyond the number of victims. In Colorado, the suspect was still alive (adding the promise of a dramatic court appearance). In Wisconsin, the suspect was killed on the scene. The Colorado suspect had also rigged his apartment with explosives, shot up a place of public recreation, and provided the added flair of claiming to be "The Joker."

But the relative dearth of coverage has not gone unnoticed. Riddi Shah, an editor at The Huffington Post, writes that "if we don't ask why a small religious community in the Midwest was targeted by a 40-year-old white man, if we don't make this discussion as loud and robust as the one that followed the attack on Gabby Giffords or on those young people in Aurora, we're in danger of undermining what America stands for."

Despite those concerns, the Wisconsin shooting seems destined to disappear into the realm of the nothing-to-be-done, nothing-to-be-discussed.

NBC News, busy with its exclusive rights to the Olympics, has led some newscasts with the story but kicked off this morning's "Today" show interviewing a pole vaulter. "We’ve devoted considerable resources to the Sikh temple shooting and are continuing to cover it," an NBC spokesperson told POLITICO.

ABC News, which has led every newscast with the story since Sunday afternoon, declined to comment on the differences in coverage. CBS News also declined to comment.

On cable, a spokesperson with MSNBC said the network's "editorial options are different" because of the Olympics, but noted that MSNBC had run several special reports during Sunday's coverage of the games. "Last night MSNBC prime time did cover the shooting in every hour of prime time – [Rachel] Maddow even led with the story," the spokesperson said. "So we’ve definitely done a good deal of coverage."

Spokespeople with Fox News did not respond to a request for comment.

The one exception to the rule has been CNN, which has sent anchors Erin Burnett and Anderson Cooper to Wisconsin and put half-a-dozen correspondents on the story nationally, as well as a correspondent in Mumbai, India.